The Globalization of Guns
DEVELOPMENTS
The international trade of firearms and heavy weaponry affects poor and developing nations the hardest. Abusive practices emerging from the globalization of the weapons trade are very real problem that kills huge numbers of people worldwide each year.
Gun dealers like Jean-Bernard Lasnaud, Leonid Efimovich Minin, Victor Anatoliyevich Bout, Monzer Al Kassar and Sarkis Soghanalian often avoid prosecution and are known by IGOs for their business dealings which significantly destabilizes regions of the world all in the name of profit. In some cases, like that of Jean-Bernard Lasnaud, dealers operate in places as well known as South Florida. Conversely, gunrunners like Victor Bout are encouraged by some nation-states to conduct their global business because it improves their bottom line. Victor Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a sting operation by DEA agents posing as Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who were seeking weapons in their armed struggle against the Colombian government. Besides ammo and cargo planes the undercover DEA agents were seeking 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles. At one point Bout was indicated by many sources for his involvement in selling arms to groups battling the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s but it was reported that he had begun selling weapons to the Taliban.
While the international market for illegal weapons affects governments battling insurgent groups it also predominately affects villagers and children in many poor African states. Often children are forced to join guerilla groups as child soldiers. In Liberia and Sierra Leone child soldiers have been found with AK-47s produced by manufactures in the former Yugoslavia. As long as many wealthier nations and individuals continue to treat global conflict-zones as a seller’s paradise for cheap assault weapons, irresponsible practices stemming from the sale of arms will continue feed violence and slow development in vulnerable nations around the globe.
BACKGROUND
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War the global market was inundated with small arms weapons like the AK-47 or the Kalashnikov. The former Soviet Union was not the only manufacturer of this ubiquitous assault rifle but Albania, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, Iraq, India, Iran, Israel, Finland, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, Vietnam, Venezuela and the Former Yugoslavia also produced millions of these weapons.
In 2002, a Moldovan air charter company, Aerocom, delivered thousands of AK-47s from Serbia to Liberia, which violated a UN Arms embargo against Liberia. In a complicated example of an end run around international law, the state-owned Zastava Oružje contacted Aerocom to transport thousands of Kalashnikovs to Liberia using fabricated Nigerian End User Certificates. To get the weapons to Liberia via Serbia the plane used fake flight plans. At their destination the weapons were used to arm children in Charles Taylor’s army and kill thousands.
Control Arms, run jointly by Amnesty International, IANSA and Oxfam indicates “there are between 50 and 70 million of them spread across the world’s five continents. They are used daily by soldiers, fighters, and gang members to inflict untold suffering in many countries. The spread of these weapons continues largely unchecked by governments, threatening the lives and safety of millions as weapons fall into irresponsible hands.”
The World Bank estimates based on several studies that “Small arms are estimated to be responsible for between 200,000 – 400,000 deaths around the world each year. Approximately 20,000 – 100,000 of these firearm deaths occur in conflict settings.” The World Bank continues, “Of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s…In practically every theatre of insurgency or guerrilla combat a Kalashnikov will be found. The popularity of the AK-47 is accentuated by the view that it was a necessary tool to remove colonial rulers in Africa and Asia.”
Cost and popularity of the AK-47 is very much driven by supply and demand issues. With the proliferation of manufacturers of the AK-47 it is no wonder that the AK-47 and other small-arms weapons are found at the heart of most crimes against humanity. According to the World Bank, “Small arms are attractive tools of violence for several reasons. They are widely available, low in cost, extremely lethal, simple to use, durable, highly portable, easily concealed, and possess legitimate military, police, and civilian uses. As a result they are present in virtually every society.”
For those who have followed civil wars on the African continent, images of child soldiers all to frequently come to mind. Often, arming children is a cost effective way to increase numbers as in the case of Charles Taylor in Liberia. Control Arms suggests, “The gross misuse of these assault rifles by unaccountable and poorly trained combatants and fighters has been responsible for millions of direct and indirect deaths in Angola, Chad, DRC, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and elsewhere.”
In the DRC alone it is estimated that 50-60% of the weapons found among the warring parties are AK-47s. In a study, of 1,100 collected in the DRC by peacekeepers, a significant number were Chinese made AK-47s while the rest were manufactured in Egypt, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Russia. Typically, a brand new Russian made Kalashnikov will run around $240 but in some places in Africa a rifle can be purchased for around $30 if supplies are ample.
The World Bank points out the suppliers will aim to sell to countries where the market is ripe for the sale of AK-47 and other small-arms weapons. In areas with a significant level of civil war or conflict the price will fall. According to the World Bank, “in peaceful and developed countries weapon prices have been rising. In conflict-affected countries prices has remained roughly constant while in Africa prices have in fact been trending down. A country is deemed conflict-affected if it has experienced a civil war in the last 20 years.”
Not only do individuals like Victor Bout lay at the heart of the problem with their cargo planes full of weapons landing in war-zones, but several states significantly contribute to conflict prone regions. From 2001 to 2008, according to Richard F. Grimmett of the Congressional Research Service, the United States sold $88.855bn to the developing world and $66.027bn to the developed world or 41% of total market in arms sales; Russia sold $61.385bn to the developing world and $2.438bn to the developed world or 17% of the world market and France sold $15.301bn to the developing world and $15.946bn to the developed world or 8% of the total market.
Certainly, the United States and Russia are not alone the only capable states selling weapons to regions of the world that do not need more weapons. Weapons, much like automobiles, are a commodity and historically states have exported products abroad to make money. However, it is the reason d’être of these states to insure that regions of the world do not implode followed by ethnic genocide. Therefore a correlation can be drawn between states that amass large arsenals of weapons, both large and small, and the tendency to commit violence both externally and internally. The import of machetes into Rwanda prior to the genocide illustrates that the existence of machetes was the leading cause of death in the Tutsi community.
ANALYSIS
Despite the acknowledgment by the international community that the trafficking and sale of small arms poses a problem, the international community has done little to address this problem of global scale. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is advocating for the passage of the UN Small Arms Treaty but with gun control advocates in the United States convinced that its passage is an affront to the Second Amendment, its passage seems uncertain. A number of Republican senators offered a range of vitriolic arguments against its passage in the U.S. Senate.
A UN treaty to control the sale and proliferation of small arms is a needed step towards global security. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs has argued strongly in favor of an internationally binding treaty to address global security threats, stating: “Undeniably, too many arms still end up in the wrong hands. Shipments appear in countries with dismal human rights records or where they exacerbate conflict or facilitate repression. These may be direct deliveries which might be considered irresponsible.”
A treaty is several years away and passage seems uncertain given the political landscape in the United States. However, states could decide to tackle this problem unilaterally. While the United States does economically benefit from arms exports, the sale of small and medium size weapons abroad is surely one component of its export activity where social costs should be weighed against economic incentives. If the United States is serious about pushing development in countries engaged in or emerging from internal conflict, it will have to honestly address the impact that the sale of weapons from the U.S. can have in destabilizing such countries. One way to achieve this is to ensure that states and individuals do not unnecessarily fuel violent conflicts through irresponsible practices in the international weapons trade.
John Lyman is the Administrative Editor of Foreign Policy Digest.
